Violence is driven by socioeconomic and cultural factors, not the mere presence of firearms. The statistics clearly show this, and the very same statistics manipulated by so-called "gun control advocates" irrefutably contradicts their agenda's premise when put into proper context. Worse yet, the obsession over gun control sidelines the urgency needed to address issues like poor education and dismal economic prospects for those living in the most destitute and violence-stricken neighborhoods in our country.

UK vs. Japan: 2 Unarmed Societies, 2 Vastly Different Homicide Rates.

Despite both nations being disarmed and having almost no "gun-related homicides," according to UN statistics*, Japan and the UK still have an astronomical gap in homicide rates. Why? A visit to either country reveals an entirely different culture, education system, infrastructure, and socioeconomic paradigm. This is why despite Japan having a much larger population, even total homicides are lower than the comparatively more violent but less populated United Kingdom - with homicide rates in the UK nearly 3 times higher than those in Japan.

According to the UN's study, which includes the most recent annual data available, Japan, with a population of roughly 130 million, had a mere 506 homicides over the stretch of a single year. Conversely, the UK, with less than half of Japan's population (53 million) had 722 homicides. The rates per 100,000 people for Japan and the UK are 0.4 and 1.2 respectively. The UK, despite being an unarmed population, and having virtually no gun violence, still has 3 times the murder rate than the nation of Japan. Those that are murdered in the UK or Japan, are just as dead as any human being murdered by a gun in the United States. And clearly, this indicates that the presence of guns, or their banning, is not a significant factor driving homicides and violence.

Gun Control Doesn't Work - Ask Mexico.

Despite the hundreds of millions of guns to be found across the United States, with tens of millions of American citizens armed - some very heavily, the homicide rate of America is still below the global average of about 7 homicides per 100,000 people. The US' homicide rate? 4.8 murders per 100,000.

A nation like Mexico - which is conveniently dismissed by gun control advocates, has - according to the UN - a homicide rate of 22.7 murders per 100,000 people, despite having vastly stricter gun control laws on the books. A visit to Mexico and the United States would, like visiting Japan and the UK, reveal a starkly different culture, education system, infrastructure, and socioeconomic landscape. Socioeconomic factors drive Mexico's rampant violence - not a lack of gun control laws.

Logical Fallacy of Focusing on "Gun-Related Homicides"

It is true that "gun-related homicides" are higher in the US than other nations in a carefully selected "industrialized nations" category - however, it can also be said there are more snowmobile deaths in Michigan than all of America's southern states combined.

However, in comparing Michigan and America's sub-tropical region, the problem isn't snowmobiles, the problem is reckless behavior. Comparing only "gun-related homicides" in the United States with other nations is similarly dishonest, intellectual bankrupt, and statistically invalid. The problem is homicide and violence in general - not merely the means with which a murder is committed. A human being stabbed to death with a knife or throttled to death with one's bare hands, is just as dead as a human being shot with a pistol, shotgun, or "assault rifle."

A serious dialogue in tackling violence cannot begin until "violence" in and of itself is recognized as the problem - and not merely a myopic fixation on one of many implements that can be used to commit acts of violence. Indeed, guns do enable people to proficiently kill large numbers of people - but then again, so we are told by the US government, a handful of men with box cutters managed to kill 3,000 innocent people on the morning of September 11, 2001 - with not a single shot fired.

The human capacity to commit violence is unencumbered by a lack of means to do so. Banning certain implements will not deter an individual, or group of individuals from harming others if that is their intent. As the UK's disarmed but still violent society illustrates, merely banning guns is not the solution. The differences between Japan and the UK are not legal - but socioeconomic and cultural. In the UK, violence in general is the problem. A focus on the implements rather than the factors that drive it, is like treating a cancer by nursing the symptoms. It is a logical fallacy - and ultimately a fatal one.